Grand Unified Model of Accretion Disks Around Black Holes: the Sub-Keplerian Paradigm

Abstract

We show that viscous, transonic accretion disks which start with sub-Keplerian angular momentum at the outer boundary reproduce the features of the so-called thick, thin, slim and other accretion disk models depending upon the accretion rates and viscosity parameters. These disks are advection dominated in the pre-shock region and rotation dominated in the post-shock region when viscosity is less than a critical value. For a higher viscosity the shock disappears, and the flow has significant radial velocity only close to the black hole.